Spirits and Such

 The creaky stairs and suspiciously-stained walls did not inspire confidence in Beth as she carefully made her way up to the second floor of the building. Although the flyer her friend had handed to her had been colorful and bright, this place felt very.. drab and run-down.

Beth glanced around quickly, making sure that nobody was around. She didn’t feel safe in this place, but this had to be done. Clutching the locket on her neck, she swiftly made her way over to the door with a sign proclaiming, ‘Spirits and Such’. From the multiple bullet holes littering the door, she didn’t have any trouble believing that there were indeed many ghosts in there, if not by their own volition.

She had barely lifted her arm to knock on the door, but it swung open before her eyes. Lowering her raised fist, she slowly ventured inside the place, the door shutting itself behind her.

It was a rather small room. There was no furniture, only a single desk and two chairs. However, several shelves cluttered the walls, filled with books of various kinds. The only thing she was focused on, though, was the strangely plain looking man sitting across her in front of the desk.

Without hesitation, she sat down in front of him. “I’ve heard that you can speak to ghosts. Is that true?” She brought out the flyer proclaiming the same, placing it on the desk.

The man stayed silent for a moment, an amused smile playing on his face. With a slow blink, he finally replied, far too late for Beth’s liking. “Why, of course. I’ve never had such a customer before. Would you like to contact a spirit?”

Letting out a short breath, she nodded firmly. “Yes, my mother. She was killed in a car accident, but I believe something else was going on. She had been rambling about her death for weeks before it happened. I just found that she had written something in her diary, and..” Beth paused, hesitant for the first time in her venture.

The man across from her nodded pleasantly. “I don’t need to know. All I need from you is..” He plucks a contract out from thin-air, and waves it in front of her. “A signature.”

Beth cocks her eyebrow in suspicion. “Is that all?”

He laughs merrily, and gives her a cheeky smile. “Oh, I also need some of your blood, a unicorn’s horn, and something from the person you want to contact.”

There was no change in the woman’s expression. Without a blink, she pulls her hairpin out from her carefully-styled hair, letting it fall down to her shoulders. Raising it, she slides it across her palm, spilling blood from the shallow wound onto the pale white wood of the desk, seeping into it. “How much do you require? I have a strand of my mother's hair in my locket. And I’m afraid I don’t know the location of any unicorns.”

This show of determination seemed to be the icing on the cake. With a wide shark’s grin, he looked at Beth with a strange glint in his eyes. “Nobody seems to take me seriously after I say that! I thought you would run away screaming like the last one.. How interesting! Why are you so determined?”

“If what my mother wrote is true, my daughter will die in a month. I have to know why she thought that. If I lose Elizabeth..” The woman’s eyes darkened, her lips pursed in anger. Beth’s fist clenched unconsciously, spilling more scarlet droplets.

The man finally calmed down. Pulling out a strange golden pocket watch from his coat, he clicks it open, causing a strange glow to fill the room. He stands up and leans across the desk, a hand held out for Beth to take.

As the glowing light fills the dark space, the dust seems to be wiped off the grimy walls, and the walls themself disappear. A strange green garden takes the place of the once-gloomy room they were in. 

“I, Beldivere, will help you contact your mother. Trust in me, and sign the contract.”